Saturday, December 02, 2006

I want to mention a few people who have helped me so far or who have been interesting enough to get the camera rolling.

First I want to mention Dennis Cox, who is the first person to ever pick me up while hitchhiking. He stopped to pick me up in Richfield, Utah, and gave me a ride to Cedar City, where he lives. We had some interesting conversations during the ride. He said it was his first time picking up a hitchhiker, and that he actually passed me by before circling around to pick me up. Thanks, Dennis.

Next up is Tony Parra. Tony is the truck driver based out of Cedar City, Utah who took me to Vegas. He was heading to Los Angeles when he picked me up. In his Mexican accent (and my paraphrasing), he told me he stopped because he thought I was a chick. He told me I was welcome to accompany him all the way to LA if I wanted to, that he would be heading back through Vegas that night. I thought about going all the way to LA, but I ended up having him drop me off on I-15, underneath the Tropicana overpass. I then walked from I-15 & Trop to UNLV/Maryland Parkway. Thanks, Tony.

One interesting person I met in Vegas is Joe Sacco. Joe is an activist for the homeless. Not only does he do things to help the homeless, but he also lives a simple life, not unlike the homeless. I got some some really good footage of him as he did some dumpster diving behind Einstein's Bagels near UNLV. He is one of many people who knows Einstein's dumps two bags of perfectly edible bagels every day. And like the others, he took what he needed and left the rest of it in good condition. Keep an eye out for some of this footage.

Another great person I met is Adam, the overnight bartender at Cheers. I don't know Adam's last name, even though he has e-mailed me, but Adam is also a professor or an instructor at, I believe, the UNLV Department of Film. He showed me some important things about the camera I am using and was generally a friendly guy. In his e-mail to me, he said he'd like me to make him some pizza. I said it would not be possible at this time but that I'd like to do it maybe next time I get to Vegas. Thanks for the help and great service, Adam.

The last person I want to mention right now is Hamilton Chase Titus. Hamilton was kind enough to let me crash on his couch the first night I was in Vegas, even though he just met me that night. He kind of drove me nuts for a few hours because he was really, really drunk, but he is a good guy and I appreciate his kindness. I have some interesting footage of Hamilton drunk. Maybe it will make the cut for the Aimless Trial Run. Thanks, Hamilton.